Tyre-burning riots, vandalism hit KNUST; cops deployed

Personnel of the Ghana Police Service in the Ashanti Region have been deployed to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to ensure calm on campus.

The officers were deployed on the morning of Monday, 22 October 2018 following riotous protests by the students which included the burning of car tyres.

The students are demonstrating against the school authorities over their claims that some of their colleagues were manhandled by the school’s internal security during a vigil over the weekend.

The demonstrators on Monday blocked some roads on campus and prevented cars from moving during their march.

The SRC said they are continually being treated unfairly by the management of the university, thus, the march.

The protest comes on the back of the arrest of some students by the police.

The management of the university had served notice that it had suspended the organisation of vigils, also known as ‘morales’ in the school.

However, some 10 students and an alumnus defied the orders and were arrested on Friday, 19 October 2018, for holding a vigil on campus without authorisation. The situation caused some angry parents to storm the KNUST police station to demand the release of their children. The students were later released but the university said it will not rest on the matter.

A statement by the executive council of the SRC said the demonstration has become necessary to bring an end to what seems to be neglect on the part of university management.

“The KNUST SRC Executive Council in joint forces with SRC parliamentary council and all student leaders, bring to the notice of all KNUST students that we are embarking on a demonstration today 22nd October 2018. [There will be no lectures]. We have had enough.”

The SRC said: “It must be made known to the council that students were manhandled and even in some cases brutalised, acts we find condemnably atrocious.”
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